EdCC debuts new online course, offers preview classes

Want to become more truly involved in your toddler or young child’s early education?

Edmonds Community College’s Family Life Education Department has several options to consider this spring, including a new online course for parents, caregivers, and grandparents.

Free Daddy and Me class: This preview class is 6-7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 30. In addition to activities for toddlers, you can meet other children and parents and learn about parenting resources.

Social and Emotional Development of 3- to 5-Year-Olds: The online class will help you discover ways to tune into preschoolers’ emotional needs, promote healthy emotional development, and encourage social skills. The instructor is Helen Nissani. Weekly classes begin on April 8, and the quarter ends June 10. The fee is $61.65. Register by April 3.

Parent-child interactive classes are enrolling for the spring quarter, which begins April 1. Here are the times and dates:

Infant classes (4-14 months old): 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursdays.

Toddler classes (day according to age range): 9:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Daddy and Me class (18 months-3 years): 6-8 p.m. Thursdays.

To reserve your space or for more information, call 425-640-1665 or email fled@edcc.edu.

The Center for Families (www.edcc.edu/families) serves hundreds of children in childcare, from infants to 5-year-olds, and models best practices in childcare. It is a training facility for students who are learning to become early childhood educators, Head Start teachers, or family support specialists.

It offers parent education classes and oversees parent cooperative preschools. Its Childcare and Head Start programs are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children — the mark of quality for early childhood education.